Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)

In the final installment of the TMNT movie trilogy, the turtles step out of their comfort zone to save April, who had been transported to ancient Japan, and get back to the modern day. Instead of battling against a well-known character the turtles are used to, they fight a new overlord, Lord Norinaga.

Once again, in the opening of the movie, we are kept from seeing the turtles and find ourselves watching a battle between four samurai in ancient Japan. We find that these four samurai are not good people and capture people. Among the captured is Prince Kenshin under hostage of Lord Norinaga, an evil dictator. In modern day, April shops at a flea market to bring gifts to the turtles and Splinter; specifically, the scepter to give to Splinter for its ancient Japanese look. Kenshin finds a scepter that appears to glow and then reads the text on it aloud, “open the gates of time.” In parallel, the same scepter April gave Splinter glows, in her possession, and switches places with Kenshin. The turtles then travel to Ancient Japan to save April and then stop Norinaga from completing his evil plot.

Much like the second installment where the turtles discover how they became mutant, this movie brings the turtles back to Japan, where ninjas began to exist. Fun fact: ninjas are below samurai in terms of combat and honor. This movie takes the turtles way out of their comfort zone, an area in which they are not used to with little to no resources; plus, the turtles try to make history by saving Japan from evil clutches.

The writers did great with conflicts. It was not going to be easy once they came to ancient Japan. As soon as they did, Mikey (on his horse) rides away and separates from the other turtles, then gets captured by villagers and gets the scepter taken away. So, Leo,Raph and Donnie must reunite with Mikey and April, find the scepter, and defeat Norinaga. About four different plots that all overlap well make for a great conclusion.

More action-packed battles and seeing other sides of the characters; for instance, finding a rat that closely resembles Splinter points to them two being related. Also, the bond Mikey has with Yoshi, a little boy from the village who helps him and the turtles. To balance character development, there is a huge battle at the end that determines how history will be written. As the movie views critique as disappointing, it makes for a good story filled with tension and character relationships.

Alan Santellanes | Writing ContributorB.A | TV, Film & Media Studies | Cal State Univ – LA
Alan Santellanes is a CSU – Los Angeles graduate and cannot wait to hit the ground running in the media making industry. His goal is to become a showrunner for kids & to promote diversity and equity in the shows he creates. He has a strong interest in development production; more specifically, creative writing; organizing and planning. Aside from pursing a career in the media making industry, Alan enjoys playing videogames with his brother and nephews, watching television with his family, going to the movie theaters with his friends & baking desserts for his loved ones. Alan brings positivity to any new friendship or challenge that crosses on his path. Find him on Instagram @AlanSantellanes and Twitter | View My Articles